The two ambulances Gunter put up for auction last month have drawn a buyer willing to pay $230,000, well above the minimum the city had set.
Sealed bids were due at City Hall by 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, and were to be opened and read aloud right after the deadline, according to the city's auction notice. Only one envelope came in. The bidder was Medina County Emergency Services District 4, based in Castroville, KTEN reported Tuesday.
The city had contacted close to 400 emergency service agencies about the sale, the station reported. Its reserve price was $155,000, so the lone offer topped it by $75,000.
"Only one bid… we're a little disappointed by that, but we are happy with the bid amount," Adam Adams, Gunter's community services director, told KTEN.
What happens next
The packet for Thursday's City Council meeting includes an item asking the council to give the city manager direction on "the disposition of two ambulances which remains the City's property." The agenda does not spell out whether that means accepting the bid. Council meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Gunter Public Safety Building, 105 N. Fourth St.
The background
The vehicles have been the subject of controversy since they were bought. In August, KTEN reported that a resident's written complaint accusing Mayor Karen Souther of bypassing state bidding laws to buy the ambulances, and of playing a confidential meeting recording in public, had been forwarded by the Gunter Police Department to the Texas Attorney General's Office, which assigned an investigator in July.
